On the Road

Victoria Sambunaris has completed her first monograph, Taxonomy of a Landscape (Radius Books), and it should not be missed. 

In 1981 Robert Adams wrote, “Awe must have induced the photographer to trust in the ultimate beauty of the whole landscape, primordial and manmade; how else would the pictures have been possible, except in the realization that no subject is finally unworthy, unnatural, or unsafe?”

He might as well have been talking about Sambunaris' work which has brought her across the country each year for over 10 years with her 5"x7" large format camera in the great tradition of 19th century landscape photographers. She looks back to the origins of the earth, while rendering its continued evolution, violence, and beauty. 

I was very proud to exhibit one of Sambunaris' series for my first show at The Gallery at Hermès in 2009. You can see some of these images at right, and in her new book. 

Lastly, you will find a portrait of Sambunaris at work on the road, in her element, happy as can be.

Bottom: Courtesy of Jason Schmidt